*beep beep beep*
i slap my alarm shut. it's 4am and it's my last day at my barn before we head off to junior show jumping national championship. i'm meeting my best friends lauren and chase at the barn. we're all going to nationals
together. this is one of the biggest competions of our lives. but first let me get one thing straight, chase is 19 and lauren is 18. i'm only 16. but we're heading out to the defyning moment of my show jumping career. the usef is looking for young olympic prospects. and their are going to be scouts at this show.
today i have to pack all of my horse's stuff, lunge him, ride him, and then get him in his shipping stuff, since he's leaving tonight. i get to the barn and immediately tack him up. i lunge him for about 20 minutes then meet my trainer, chase, and lauren in our indoor ring for our last practice before we leave. my horse, nemi, isn't an impressive breed or color or anything like that. he is a arabian x quarter horse, chestnut, 6 y/o, and a small 15.2hh. his show name is,"Isn't He Something." while lauren's horse is a 16.3hh, dapple grey, 11 y/o, dutch warmblood named sky or,"Sky's the Limit.". chase's horse is a 17.1hh, black, 14 y/0, thouroughbred named Everest.
we work on some qymnastics w/o stirrups. we also all swap horses and jump them, because anything could happen at a big show like this. surprisingly(even though we've all been riding together w/ the same horses, for 4 years) we have never ridden eachothers horse before. at first when lauren got on nemi, he started freaking out and rearing, he is still green and not used to the type of rider she us. eventually we all got comfortable with all of eachothers horses. after that we cooled our horses and started packing. in the trailer i put my training saddle, and my hunter/jumping saddle(just in case). my show jumping bridle, training bridle, black bonnet, grey bonnet, 2 sets of ear plugs, grooming supplies, show pad, bounce pad, white saddle pad, extra blanket, extra bucket, boots, polo wraps, leather halter, leather lead and chain, braiding tools, 2 crops, dressage whip, lunging tools, mini first aid kit(for horse), treats, and a washing kit. chase, lauren, my trainer, and i are the only ones going. it's 1:00pm and we're supposed to meet back at the stables at 5:00pm so we can head off on the 18hour drive.
i drive back to my house and first pack a suitcase for my show stuff.(we are away for 5 days.) i pack 4 pairs of white show jodhpurs, 3 long sleeved show shirts, 2 polo's, my show jumping jacket, my show tall boots, boot cleaner, two black show belts, my protectice xc vest, my onek helmet, and my charles owen helmet. i also pack many bobby pins, safety pins, hair ties, and 6 hair nets.
then in my normal suitcas i pack 4 pairs of running shorts, two pairs of jean shorts, a nice dress, three pairs of tan practice breeches, 4 t-shirts, two muscle tee's, a sweatshirt, a jacket, 5 pairs of tall socks, 3 pairs of short socks, 8 pairs of underwear, 5 sports bra's, 2 wire bra's, my personal hygeine and femine products, my nike flex running shoes, my flip flops, my black heels, and rain boots, and my practice tall boots.
(by the way their trainer is 28)
then finally in my backpack i pack my wallet, earbuds, laptop, laptop charger, phone charger, gum, book, blanket, and a medium sized pillow. since i was in charge of snacks so in another bag i put, a party size bag if salt and vinegar chips, a large can of original pringles, two packs of beef jerkey, a large back og original m&m's, a thing of oreo's, a thing of brownie filled chip's ahoy, a platter or cheese, and a bag of carrots for the horses. i said goodbye to my parents then drove off to the barn.
i arrived at the barn at 4:30pm and loaded all my stuff into the van. the van had 4 sets of two seats that were all like recliners. there was also a good sized tv infront. there was also an aux cord. i put the food down in one set of the two seats that i decided would be for the food and stuff. next chase came. he loaded his stuff in and put the drinks by the food(drinks was his job). he got 24 water bottles, 4 bottles of dr. Pepper, a large bottle of ginger ale, a variety of gatorades, and a variety of ICE. he also brought a cooler full of actual ice.
finally lauren came. she loaded her stuff and laid her stuff on the seat with the food and drinks. she brought movies consisting of, sea buiscuit, the maze runner 2, white chicks, mean girls, season 1 of grey's anatomy, and season 1 of heartland. she also gave her ipod to our trainer, mike, that was full of a variety of songs. we finally loaded our horses than claimed our spots in the van. i took the front seat next to the food and stuff, knowing i would be wanting a lot, haha. i set my back pack on the seat next to me.
mike had a first aid kid, advil, motion sickness pills, cough drops, and ace wraps in the passengers seat just in case someone got sick.
"everybody ready!" he shouts.
their was a chorus of yes's. i then fell asleep as we drove off.
~9 hours later.~
i wake up and check my phone seeing that it's 2am.
"oh good your up!" mike says to me.
"all the other kids are asleep, wanna wake them up? we're gonna take a bathroom brake and walk the horses around a bit. don't worry this is a horse friendly stop."
i wake chase and lauren up as mike pulls in. first we all go to the bathroom, then we go to the mcdonalds next door to get a very very late dinner. we finish eating and go to take the horses out.
i pull out nemi first. their is a big feild so we decide to use that for exersize. while mike takes a quick nap in the van, chase, lauren, and i walk, trot, and canter our horses around. we started out with walking for a good twenty minutes, than trotted for another 35, than cantered and practiced lead changes and some dressage skills for another 20. We then hop off and let the horses graze.(we just used a bridle and did bareback.) after another 30 minutes of grazing we put the horses back, re filling their food and water, than waking mike up. it had been 3 hours, and we're back on the rode. lauren, chase, and i talk and listen to music and stuff for another 3 hours before we go back to sleep.
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i hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter!!! if you have any questions go ahead and ask!!!
